Northanger Abbey

When Catherine Morland, a country clergyman's daughter, is invited to spend a season in Bath with the fashionable high society, little does she imagine the delights and perils that await her. Captivated and disconcerted by what she finds, and introduced to the joys of "Gothic novels" by her new friend, Isabella, Catherine longs for mystery and romance. When she is invited to stay with the beguiling Henry Tilney and his family at Northanger Abbey, she expects mystery and intrigue at every turn.

Sense and Sensibility

When Mrs. Dashwood is forced by an avaricious daughter-in-law to leave the family home in Sussex, she takes her three daughters to live in a modest cottage in Devon. For Elinor, the eldest daughter, the move means a painful separation from the man she loves, but her sister Marianne finds in Devon the romance and excitement which she longs for.

Persuasion

Anne Elliot has grieved for seven years over the loss of her first love, Captain Frederick Wentworth. But events conspire to unravel the knots of deceit and misunderstanding in this beguiling and gently comic story of love and fidelity.

Northanger Abbey

As Jane Austen's first completed novel that was submitted to be published, Northanger Abbey is a miraculously weaved tale of love, society, and deception, themes that would come to be synonymous in literature with Austen's name. The young Catherine Morland receives a fantastic opportunity to explore the city of Bath with some family friends, and while there, she experiences a level of mental and emotional growth that was as yet unparalleled in her life.

Pride and Prejudice

One of Jane Austen’s most beloved works, Pride and Prejudice, is vividly brought to life by Academy Award nominee Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl). In her bright and energetic performance of this British classic, she expertly captures Austen’s signature wit and tone. Her attention to detail, her literary background, and her performance in the 2005 feature film version of the novel provide the perfect foundation from which to convey the story of Elizabeth Bennett, her four sisters, and the inimitable Mr. Darcy.

Mansfield Park (Dramatized)

Felicity Jones, David Tennant and Benedict Cumberbatch star in BBC Radio 4's full-cast dramatisation of the novel by Jane Austen, one of the great English classics. Seeking a position in society, young Fanny Price goes to live with her rich aunt and uncle. But her life there is not as she might wish. Felicity Jones plays Fanny, whilst David Tennant is her cousin Tom and Benedict Cumberbatch his brother Edmund.

Jane Eyre

Following Jane from her childhood as an orphan in Northern England through her experience as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Gothic classic is an early exploration of women's independence in the mid-19th century and the pervasive societal challenges women had to endure. At Thornfield, Jane meets the complex and mysterious Mr. Rochester, with whom she shares a complicated relationship that ultimately forces her to reconcile the conflicting passions of romantic love and religious piety.

North and South

Set in the context of Victorian social and medical debate, this novel is about rebellion, posing fundamental questions about the nature of social authority and obedience. This revised edition draws on recent theoretical work on gender and class.

Wuthering Heights [Recorded Books Edition]

Catherine Earnshaw's passionate statement reveals the core of Emily Bronte's tempestuous literary masterpiece. Meeting as children, Catherine and Heathcliff begin a relationship that grows into obsession as family, class, and fate work against them as much as their own jealous natures.

Love and Friendship (aka 'Love and Freindship')

Jane Austen wrote Love and Friendship (originally spelled Love and Freindship [sic]) when she was just 14 years old. The three notebooks that contain her early works, including this story, are currently on display at the Bodleian Library and the British Museum. Taking the form as letters written by the heroine to the daughter of her friend, this story resembles a fairy tale that lampoons the conventions of romantic stories at the time.

Wives and Daughters

Set in English society before the 1832 Reform Bill, Wives and Daughters centers on the story of youthful Molly Gibson, brought up from childhood by her father. When he remarries, a new stepsister enters Molly's quiet life, the loveable, but worldly and troubling, Cynthia. The narrative traces the development of the two girls into womanhood within the gossiping and watchful society of Hollingford.

Middlemarch

Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon’s mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, and reforms, as well as betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Tess Durbeyfield has become one of the most famous female protagonists in 19th-century British literature. Betrayed by the two men in her life - Alec D’Urberville, her seducer/rapist and father of her fated child; and Angel, her intellectual and pious husband - Tess takes justice, and her own destiny, into her delicate hands. In telling her desperate and passionate story, Hardy brings Tess to life with an extraordinary vividness that makes her live in the heart of the reader long after the novel is concluded.

A Tale of Two Cities [Tantor]

A Tale of Two Cities is one of Charles Dickens's most exciting novels. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, it tells the story of a family threatened by the terrible events of the past. Doctor Manette was wrongly imprisoned in the Bastille for 18 years without trial by the aristocratic authorities.

Little Women

Most people know this book from the Academy Award-winning motion picture starring Winona Ryder. Now, introduce them to the sparkling American classic behind the movie: a charming portrait of the joys and hardships of the four sisters in Civil War New England. Separated by the war from their beloved parents, these "little women" struggle to find their place in the world.

Great Expectations

One of the most revered works in English literature, Great Expectations traces the coming of age of a young orphan, Pip, from a boy of shallow aspirations into a man of maturity. From the chilling opening confrontation with an escaped convict to the grand but eerily disheveled estate of bitter old Miss Havisham, all is not what it seems in Dickens’ dark tale of false illusions and thwarted desire.

David Copperfield [Audible]

Between his work on the 2014 Audible Audiobook of the Year, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel, and his performance of Classic Love Poems, narrator Richard Armitage (The Hobbit, Hannibal) has quickly become a listener favorite. Now, in this defining performance of Charles Dickens' classic David Copperfield, Armitage lends his unique voice and interpretation, truly inhabiting each character and bringing real energy to the life of one of Dickens' most famous characters.

Publisher's Summary

Fanny Price, a poor relation of the rich Bertrams, is reluctantly adopted into the family, to be brought up at Mansfield Park, where she is condescendingly treated. Only her cousin, Edmund, a young clergyman, appreciates her fine qualities.

Fanny soon falls in love with him, but Edmund is, unfortunately, drawn to the shallow and worldly Mary Crawford. Fanny's quiet humility, steadfast loyalty, and natural goodness are matched against the wit and brilliance of her lovely rival. The tension is heightened when Henry Crawford, Mary's equally sophisticated and flirtatious brother, takes an interest in Fanny.

Jane Austen's subtle, satiric novel skillfully uses her characters' emotional relationships to explore the social and moral values by which they attempt to order their lives.

(P)1994 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What the Critics Say

"Listeners...will be rewarded with Austen's brilliant commentary on the society of her day and by Johanna Ward's solid reading....this is a lively and interesting choice for admirers of Jane Austen." (AudioFile)

The narrator has a soothing British accent but does not change her voice for any of the characters. For 16 hours I've listened to her read this book and have been straining to figure out which character is talking at any given time. My favorite Jane Austen narrator is Juliet Stevenson who does a marvelous job at giving different voices to each of the characters, thereby really bringing the book to life. I wish this narrator were more like her. If she had narrated the unabridged Mansfield Park, I would have chosen that one.

I've read only 4 by Jane Austen. I've liked 3. This story is very tedious and quite predictable. I dwelled forever on the choosing and practice of a play that never occured. The characters seemed flat - totally upright and intelligent or completely without morals. The story is filled with redundancies. I'd recommend the abridged version of this one - know the plot line and move on. Narration was also not as good as Juliet Stevensen (spelling?) I would often get confused as to who was speaking. Main character, Fannie, sounded like she had a head cold.

I don't have much of a review, but am hoping that someone reads these so that perhaps it will get through to the producers. I know this is probably a very good book. I have liked most of Jane Austins' work. the problem was that I like to relax when I am listening, I often listen in bed in the middle of the night when I can't sleep or for an afternoon nap. Johanna Ward, has a lovely voice, but she read so fast that I had to work to assimilate the text. It was as if she was reading it for a speed test. I am truly sorry, I was looking forward to the book. Hope this helps somehow.

Johanna Ward did a wonderful job narrating Mansfield Park. My understanding and enjoyment of the book and its characters is much improved. The spoken word carries meanings which written words don't quite convey. This is an ambitious work. Miss Austen was reacting to the perceived notion that P&P was too light. To enhance the enjoyment of this book, go to Project Gutenberg and download Mrs. Elizabeth Inchbald's Lover's Vows. At the very least, read acts III and IV. I don't see how one can fully understand the book without reading this play.

I was struck with how often Miss Austen used the girl rejects handsome (and occasionally) rich man device and thereby fixing his attentions on the girl. It has the advantage of distinguishing her from her fellow single sisters. In Mansfield Park, Fanny Price rejects Henry Crawford; P&P, Elizabeth Bennet rejects Fitzwilliam Darcy; P, Anne Elliot rejects Capt Wentworth and appears as the willing love object of Mr. Elliot; E, Emma Woodhouse flirted indiscreetly with Frank Churchill and didn't even recognize Mr. George Knightley as a potential suitor until it appeared that another was about to carry him off; S&S, Edmund felt rejected by Elinor Dashwood when it appeared that Col. Brandon was a favored suitor and of course, Marianne had eyes only for Willoughby and regarded Col Brandon as little more than a flannel waistcoat; the only exception is Catherine Morland who in Northanger Abbey fell head over heels in love with Henry Tillme almost from the first moment. As Jane Austen would have it, what man can resist a moderately good looking woman with good sense, who is passionately in love with him? In the former case, a Fanny Price or Elizabeth Bennet raised her value by being harder to obtain. In both instances, the rejected men are confounded. They were used to the Julia & Maria Berthams, Miss Bingleys or the Miss Musgroves. Rejection was a new and unpleasant experience and must be overcome.

I have generally enjoyed my excursions into Austen-land, but if Austen were a modern writer, I'd call this book a sophomore slump. It was her third, and much of the plot and character interactions were very derivative of Pride and Prejudice but without that book's humor or sting.

Fanny Price is one of a brood of children, and her mother sends her to live with wealthy relatives to relieve her own family of some of the burden. Fanny thus grows up as the "poor cousin" in a wealthy house, generally not ill-treated but she is constantly condescended to and slighted. The result is that Fanny is a shy, blushing, ridiculously self-depreciating creature whom I found hard to like, though we're obviously meant to. I should say, as a person I would certainly like the poor sweet, modest girl, but as a character she mostly bites her tongue and tries to be as good as possible while never, ever saying anything that might make anyone else unhappy, even the jerk playboy who decides he wants to marry her without regard for her feelings on the subject.

Naturally, there is another man easily identified as Fanny's One True Love, though while the reader knows who Fanny will marry by the end of the first chapter (even if you've never read Austen before), neither of them realizes it until nearly the last chapter.

Very Austenian, but almost generic Austen, if one can say that about such a famous author who only ever wrote six books. To be quite honest, Austen's lovely style and occasionally amusing bits of dialog were all that carried me through this book, particularly some long tedious middle parts. I wanted to love you more, Mansfield Park, but I can only give you 3.5 stars, and half a star is charity.

I found the reading by Johanna Ward to be quite adequate, but I've listened to two other audiobooks by Jane Austen, one narrated by Lindsay Duncan, the other by Juliet Stevenson, and I would have to say I preferred their readings, as they put more energy and personality into their readings, and Mansfield Park really needs some energy to keep you awake.

This book is entertaining, if a little cliched and expected. The narrator is great. The story is, well, Austen. The plot revolves around marriage, money, manners, and morality. One character in the book serves as an unwitting moral compass around which the other characters revolve and, quite frankly, it is easy to get tired of this character's prudence while all the while rooting for her success. Much of the moral musings--while true to the time--are outdated and oppressive. Still, the book is enjoyable. Austen is not, however, at the literary level of a Wharton or Eliot, two others whom I have been reading so much of that perhaps this review is a little unfair in its comparison.

I really enjoy pieces from this time period, but it took me longer than usual to find interest in this book. I've read several of Jane Austen's other books and enjoyed them more. The narrator is wonderful and I would enjoy listening to her again, just not if it's a repeat of this book.